Flooding rains are expected to continue battering Australia’s east coast, despite avoiding the deadly winds of its first tropical cyclone in 51 years, officials said Saturday.
One person was reported dead, and several others were injured.
Tropical cyclone Alfred was projected to be the first storm to make landfall near Brisbane, Australia’s third-most populous city, since 1974.
However, it weakened Saturday to a tropical low, which is characterized as having sustained winds of less than 63 kilometers per hour.
The remains of the cyclone passed the coast late Saturday, 55 kilometers north of Brisbane, and will continue west across the inland, delivering heavy rain, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Cyclones are common in Queensland’s tropical north but are rare in the state’s temperate and densely populated southeast corner, which borders New South Wales state.
A 61-year-old man who disappeared in a flooded river near the New South Wales town of Dorrigo was confirmed the first fatality of the crisis when his body was recovered on Saturday, police said.
Defense personnel were injured when two military trucks involved in the emergency response collided in the town of Tregeagle in New South Wales on Saturday, police said.
Of the 36 Brisbane-based military personnel involved in the incident, 13 were injured, Australian government minister Matt Keogh said. Keogh provided no details on what had happened or the injuries.
A woman sustained minor injuries when an apartment building lost its roof in the Queensland border city of Gold Coast on Friday, police said. The woman was one of 21 people who were evacuated from the building.
A couple sustained minor injuries when a tree crashed through the ceiling of their Gold Coast bedroom during strong winds and rain on Thursday night, officials said.
According to Queensland Premier David Crisafulli, the storm has caused 330,000 households and businesses to lose power since Thursday. No previous natural calamity had resulted in a more widespread darkness in the state’s history. On Saturday, New South Wales reported up to 45,000 power outages. However, officials said that tens of thousands of people had been reconnected by late in the day.
The meteorological office said that rivers in Queensland and New South Wales were flooding as a result of days of heavy rain. The dead man discovered on Saturday was the lone fatality among 36 flood rescues conducted by emergency teams in northern New South Wales in recent days, with the majority involving vehicles attempting to cross floodwaters, according to police.
